This might be news to cabinet appointees who were promised they would have ultimate control over their respective agencies. Remember all those small business owners Donald Trump promised to pay for their work? Josh Dawsey writes:
The White House is installing senior aides atop major federal agencies to shadow the administration's Cabinet secretaries, creating a direct line with loyalists who can monitor and shape White House goals across the federal bureaucracy.
The arrangement, described by four people involved in the transition planning, appears designed to help the White House maintain control over its priorities despite pledging to give Cabinet secretaries unusual autonomy. Having senior advisers reporting to both the agency chiefs and the White House could spur early tensions and create conflicts with that pledge of autonomy.
“They want to keep kind of a West Wing-infused attachment to the agencies,” said a person familiar with the arrangement. “There will be tentacles from the White House to these agencies. … The effort is to demonstrate that all points lead back to certain people,” such as Donald Trump’s son-in-law, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, or chief of staff Reince Priebus.
Inextricable tentacles linking back to receptacles for blame: that sure sounds inviting. It's not uncommon for the White House to place low-level staffers at agencies so they can report back about progress and potential trouble spots, but Trump's high-level liaisons will be far more powerful. In fact, the move could be a reaction to the many many times Trump nominees have shot down his campaign promises during their confirmation hearings.
Two people involved in the transition said the new advisers are expected to maintain constant contact with the White House and the agencies and sign off on major decisions. The liaisons will also give the White House a window into agencies where Trump is not as personally close to the Cabinet secretaries, said a source close to the transition. Some of the senior White House advisers in the agencies have frequently met with their respective secretaries, who didn't pick them for the post. [...]
The jobs have rattled Obama administration political appointees, who have been surprised at young campaign hands having such authority at federal agencies. [...]
Trump himself is likely to have little involvement in the minutiae of the agencies; people close to him expect him to want top-level briefings and little else. He tends to like conflict among his top aides and advisers, with them competing for his attention and respect.
There's nothing like making a deal with the devil. No matter how good it sounds, in the end there's always hell to pay.